Machine for attaching buttons



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

J. BBRNSTEIN. MACHINE FOR ATTAOHING BUTTONS. v

No.. 545,218. 56 Patented'Aug. 27,1895.

M inventor, w

Attorney.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

J. BERNSTEIN. MACHINE FOR ATTAGHING BUTTONS. No. 546,218. Patented Aug. 27,1895.

Inventor.

\jaltnesses. 4 I 30 L 1 %5 4 UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

JOSEPH BERNSTEIN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR ATTACHING BUTTONS.

SPECIFICA'JIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,218, dated August 2'7, 1895. Application filed January 15, 1895. Serial No. 534,943- (No modeL.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OSEPH Buans'rnrn, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Attach iug Buttons, of which the following is a full,

fastener through the interposed fabric and the button and to clinch or bend the point of such shank upon the button.

The object, mainly, is to provide a machine whereby trousers buttons shall be expeditiously and effectively applied to the garment, more especially buttons of the character set out in my Letters Patent of theUnited States No. 525,527, dated September 4, 1894.

lhe improvements comprehend various novel features of construction and organization of parts which will be hereinafter described in detail, and be pointed out in the claims.

In the annexed drawings, Figure l is a front view of a machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section thereof, as on the line a: so of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail showing the parts of the setting mechanism in the relative positions assumed by them immediately upon the attachment of a button to the fabric. Fig. i is a plan of the spring button-holding frame detached.

The numeral 1 designates a substantial supporting-frame of appropriate shape and size for its intended purpose. Mounted in suitable bearings 2, in the rear of the frame, is a forwardly-inclined shaft 3, to which are centrally fixed, at a proper distance apart, two cylindrical hoppers a 5, whereby when the shaft is intermittently rotated, as hereinafter described, the hoppers are correspondingly actuated. The upper hopper is designed to contain the buttons and the lower hopper the fasteners. The hoppers are superimposed on peripherally-flanged concentric disks 6 and 7, respectively, which are somewhat larger in diameter than the hoppers. The lower peripheral edges of the hoppers have formed therein at intervals openings 8, which are so shaped that during the rotation of the hoppers the contained fasteners and buttons are discharged singly through the openings and upon the flanged edges of the respective disks. The openings in the hoppers are formed to permit the discharge of the fasteners and buttons inverted as seen. Communicating with and extending forwardly from the projecting ledges of the disks are chutes 9 and 10, respectively, which are constructed to receive the fasteners and buttons in single file and direct them successively to the driving and clinching mechanism, which I shall now describe.

Fitted to a suitably-disposed perforated boss 11. on the base-plate of the main frame is an upwardlyprojecting pin or stud 12, which constitutes an anvil, the same being held adjustably in place by means of a setscrew 13, working in the boss. On the upper portion of this anvil is a vertically-movable sleeve 14, which is maintained normally elevated by the action of a spiral spring 15, arranged in a socket 16 in the base-plate. Normally the upper portion of the sleeve projects above the anvil, as seen most clearly in Fig. 2. On the upper rearward edge of the sleeve is formed an inclined trough 17, which extends beneath the lower or discharging end of the inclined fastener-chute 10, whereby the fasteners in the latter, upon being discharged individually from the chute, will enter the trough 17 and be directed thereby to the interior of the sleeve is in such a manner that the head of the fastener will rest upon the opposed end of the anvil. Overhanging the fastener-supporting devices just described is a centrally slotted or bifurcated plate 18, which is reciprocative toward and from the anvil. In the present instance this plate is the transverse member of a U-shaped frame 19, of spring metal, the free ends of the frame being extended rearward and secured to lateral brackets 20 20, respectively, to the end that the plate shall be held normally elevated. The plate is provided on the respective edges of the central slot with forwardly-extending upcurved lugs 21,whose function will hereinafter appear. Formed on the plate 18, slightly beyond the rear and lateral edges of the slot, which are preferably are vertical walls constructed integral with the plate. There is thus formed on the plate a receptacle with slotted bottom and open forward end, which receptacle is adapted to receive the buttons singly and to sustain them above the fastener preparatory to the driving and clinching operation.

The chute which directs the buttons from the hopper 4 to this receptacle is constructed as shown in Fig. 2that is to say, it inclines forward, as at a, and then curves downwardly and inwardly, as at b, in proximity to the upcurved lugs on the plate 18. Hence when the inverted button is discharged from the chute it falls, bottom downward, upon the opposed faces of the lugs and is deflected thereby into the receptacle.

Pivoted to the lateral brackets 20 are the respective ends of a forwardly-extending U- shaped hammer 23, the transverse member of which lies directly above the button-receptacle 22 being provided with a centrally-disposed clinching-die 24 that is adapted to enter the cup of the button in the receptacle 22 when the hammer is depressed. The lateral members of the hammer are hingedly connected with a depending yoke 25, which is, in its turn, connected with asuitable treadle, (not shown,) by the operation of which the hammer may be oscillated.

Assuming a fastener be supported upon the anvil and a button be contained in the receptacle, the edge of the fabric F, Fig. 3, to which the button is to be attached is interposed between the anvil and the receptacle and the hammer is then forcibly depressed. In this movementthe clinching-die enters the central cup of the button and forces the plate downward upon the fabric, which fabric, in consequence, depresses the sleeve, whereupon the up-projecting points of the fastener penetrate the fabric and the button and are upset or clinched in the latter by the opposed end of the die. Thus the button is effectually fastened to the fabric. This .being done, the hammer is raised and the fabric removed, whereupon the sleeve 14: and the button -receptacle resume their previous positions.

As a means whereby the fasteners and the buttons shall be introduced singly to their respective positionsin the setting mechanism immediately after the completion of each operation just described, I pivot on the face of each of the chutes, near the discharging end thereof, a lever 26, one arm of which traverses the open slot 3 in the chute and is provided with a notch 27, while the other arm is connected with the spring-frame by means of a link 28. WVhen the frame is depressed, the notches of the respective levers register with the slots of the adjacent frames in such a manner that the shanks of the lead-,

ing fastener in the chute 10 enter the notch of the opposed lever, while the central depression of the button correspondingly engages alike part of the opposed lever. When the frame is raised, immediately after the setting operation, the notched portions of the levers are turned downward, and hence the contained fastener and button are liberated so as to pass to the anvil and the receptacle, respectively. At the same time the upper edges of the notched arms, which are rounded, as seen, obstruct the paths of the succeeding fasteners and buttons in the respective chutes, and prevent their egress until the springframe is raised as before, whereupon the described operation of the levers is repeated.

' A means which I employ for intermittently rotating the hopper-supporting shaft 3, hereinbefore referred to, comprises a ratchet-wheel 29 affixed to the shaft and a pawl-arm 30 coacting therewith, said arm being held yieldingly engaged with the ratchet-wheel by means of a spring 31. This arm is pivotally connected with a crank-arm 32 on one of the pivotal studs of the hammer, whereby during the reciprocations of the latter the pawl'is actuated to impel the ratchet-wheel and, perforce, the shaft and the hoppers.

I claim- 1. In a machine for attaching buttons, the combination, with afastener containing hop per and its chute, of afixed anvil, a verticallymovable sleeve thereon provided with a trough extending in proximity to said chute, a spring tending to raise said sleeve, and a reciprocative die-carrying hammer adapted to co-act with said sleeve and anvil, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for attaching buttons, the combination, with the anvil and the yielding slotted button receptacle above the same, of the button containing hopper, and the chute provided with the inclined upper portion and the forwardly and inwardly curved lower portion, the upper portion extending from the hopper and the lower portion communicating with the slotted button receptacle, together with the hammer, substantially as described.

3. In a machine for attaching buttons, the combination, with the anvil, of the yielding slotted or bifurcated plate provided with a button receptacle therein and with forwardly-extending up-curved lugs, the button containing hopper, the chute leading therefrom to said lugs, and the reciprocative ham mer above said receptacle, substantially as described.

4:. In a machine for attaching buttons, the combination, with a hopper, a chute, an anvil, a hammer, and an interposed yielding plate provided with a button receptacle, of the notched lever on said chute, and a link connecting said lever with the yielding plate, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH BERNSTEIN.

Witnesses:

J OHN R. NOLAN, ANDREW O. GROUP. 

